Commerce Anywhere

Thursday Feb 28, 2013

Today saw the German findings for Oracle’s Evolution of Experience Retailing research unveiled by Sarah Taylor, Senior Director EMEA & JAPAC in Frankfurt. Results highlighted that retailers targeting the German retail market face a challenge in understanding their customers, and that to better engage with them, it is essential to deliver a consistent experience across all channels.

In the research, which evaluates consumer perceptions of customer service, overall experience, preference, shopping trends and attitudes to technology, overall German respondents did not provide particularly extreme reactions to survey questions, generally giving a broader range of feedback and views than their counterparts in the UK, USA, Russia, Brazil, China and Japan. Price and choice were key influencers in determining where to shop, and while German consumers generally agree that the global marketplace offers advances in these areas, a large number stated that the Internet was “neither important nor unimportant” in facilitating these benefits, despite a high degree of respondents shopping online for fashion and speciality items.

In general, German consumers did not value social media within their retail experience, with 56% of respondents not using social networks when shopping and over a third not perceiving recommendations on social channels to be important or valuable.

Other research findings included:

81% of consumers rate service as fairly or very important, with unfriendly (75%) or unhelpful (68%) store associates being determined as the cause of bad service

When it comes to experience within shopping, 59% of respondents rated this as being very or fairly important – compared to 72% globally

43% of respondents only wanted to receive contact from retailers when they instigate the interaction, while only 27% of consumers were willing to share personal information with a retailer and in return, expected better services and offers

Social media has a smaller impact on the German consumer, with only 15% of respondents following a retailer on social networks (29% globally) and 23% actively seeking out reviews of brand/products on social media (37% globally)

For further insights into the German consumer, visit the Evolution of Experience Retailing website and download a range of research resources, including a whitepaper analysing findings from around the world. Global results from the Evolution of Experience Retailing were launched in New York in January, with Japanese, UK and Russian results having since been made available.